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Creating Effect and Mood with Light

When shooting a photograph, I often feel that I am creating a single frame from a movie. The star of the movie is the subject. With the use of backdrops, light, a ladder and a Venetian Blind I have created an effect and a mood. In this article, I am sharing examples of the use of colors and lighting to create different visual effects.

This set is from my Creative Lighting Workshop in Boston on April 22, 2018. I had 2 completely different lighting setups right next to each other.

How the Lighting Was Created

Model Valentina Beli from New York is on the right set. For lighting, I used a Nissin Di700A speedlight with a Rogue Grid set with the 25-degree white grid shot through a Venetian blind, hung using a boom connected to 2 light stands. The Venetian blind is gaffer taped to the boom. I used the Rogue grid to narrow down the beam of light before it hits the blinds. The strobe was fired with a PocketWizard Plus IV radio transmitter. I always use radios to fire my strobes, I can move around and am not bound by the length of my PC cord. My speedlights are set to manual. To determine my meter readings I used my Sekonic 487 DR light meter with the built-in PocketWizard transmitter. When I take the meter reading, the meter fires the strobe. It’s just a bit more convenient than having to use my transmitter to fire the strobes during my lighting tests.

The backdrop is a “Wooden Door Blue” and it and the floor are from Click Prop USA. A big wooden ladder was at the studio. Valentina Beli is wearing a white dress from Sew Trendy with a black leather jacket.

On the left set, Julianna Nicole is the model. For this shot, I mixed a portable studio strobe and a speedlight. For the main light, I used a Dynalite Baja 4 with a Dynalite Beauty Dish. The Dynalite Baja is a self-contained portable studio strobe with an internal battery. I really like using these strobes. Take it out of the case, put in on a light stand, turn it on and you are ready to go!

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Rick Friedman has been a photojournalist for over four decades. Based in Boston, he travels the world for numerous publications, workshops, corporations, advertising assignments and film and TV productions. His published work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, Nature, USA Today, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Stern, Discover and many other publications. He has produced over 75 book and magazine covers, worked on 11 movies and covered every US presidential campaign from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump.

Rick has been teaching his Location Lighting Workshops for the past 15 years across the US, UK and Canada. Rick has taught thousands of people his style of practical lighting. The Location Lighting Workshop Tour has many events over the next few months including the Photographic Societies Convention in London and workshops in New York and Boston. Workshop sponsors have included Canon, ASMP, SWPP, Columbia College, Hunts Photo, Unique Photo, MidWest Photo, Dynalite, PocketWizard, Chimera, Sekonic, Hoodman, ExpoImaging, Sunbounce, Rosco, PNY, LensBaby and ThinkTank. Rick has presented his Location Lighting Workshops on “Creative Live”, B&H TV, and on Photo Brigade. Rick is a Chimera Lighting Visionary, a PNY Ambassador and a Dynalite VIP. Please look on the Workshops page on www.rickfriedman.com for dates and locations.

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